Mel Evans / The Associated PressPolice officers, including Robert Evangelist at left, subdue 64-year-old Robert Davis in the French Quarter on Oct. 8, 2005.

A state appeals court has overruled the New Orleans Police Department's decision to terminate an officer involved in a high-profile, videotaped altercation weeks after Hurricane Katrina in which he and another officer allegedly beat a 64-year-old retired teacher on Bourbon Street.

The court ruling essentially paves the way for former officer Robert Evangelist to return to duty, with full back pay, barring a further appeal by the city to the state's Supreme Court.

The incident received international attention after parts of the altercation between several law enforcement officers and Robert Davis were captured by two cameramen and broadcast around the world.

Evangelist and officer Lance Schilling were fired after the incident by Police Chief Warren Riley, who called their actions unreasonable. Evangelist appealed his termination to the city's Civil Service Commission, which upheld Riley's action.

Evangelist then appealed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal, and that court overturned the earlier rulings on Wednesday.

The mayor's office and the city attorney's office, which handled the legal aspect of the case, did not respond to a request for comment; nor did the Police Department.

In issuing its decision, the 4th Circuit criticized the commission's ruling, saying the panel relied on facts not supported by evidence. The NOPD's own investigation also came under fire. In addition, the court noted that numerous pieces of evidence are missing, or were not handed over to the court.

Footage from two separate videographers were key factors in the NOPD and Cvil Service Commission decisions, yet the appeals court said it was given only a brief video segment without any audio, as well as three still photographs.

The court also pointed to the NOPD's disciplinary letter, which alleged that Evangelist struck Davis in the torso, and contrasted it with the testimony of expert witnesses who defended Evangelist's actions by saying that such blows are in line with police protocol.

"They could never deduce that Evangelist struck him in the head, " Evangelist's attorney, Eric Hessler, said Wednesday.

Hessler said the ruling shows that "police need to be allowed to do their job, " without political pressure or administrative second-guessing.

In a separate legal matter, a federal civil lawsuit was settled between the city and Davis last month for an undisclosed amount of money.

Davis said he was walking on Bourbon Street about 8 p.m., and was confused about the post-hurricane curfew hours. He asked some nearby officers about the rules. When they didn't respond, Davis said, he called them "ignorant, unprofessional and rude."

Davis said an officer then ran up behind him, threw him against a wall and punched him.

The officers said they stopped Davis on suspicion of being drunk and violating the post-Katrina city curfew, and he became hostile. Davis was booked with public intoxication, but never charged. He needed several stitches to his face after his arrest that night and suffered a broken nose and face bone.

Evangelist was later booked on criminal charges. During his July 2007 trial before Criminal District Court Judge Frank Marullo, both the defense and prosecution repeatedly returned to the videotape of Evangelist and Schilling, along with two FBI agents, grappling with Davis. After being pushed against a wall by the two NOPD officers, Davis was pushed to the ground, with the four men trying to grab different parts of his body, the video shows.

Marullo agreed with the defense interpretation, saying the video showed a man who would not submit to handcuffing by officers, who used appropriate force. Schilling, who had also faced criminal charges in the beating, committed suicide a month before Evangelist went to trial.

A third officer, Stuart Smith, was suspended for 120 days and accused of simple battery for allegedly jabbing his finger in the face of an Associated Press producer whose crew was recording the incident. The simple battery charge was later dropped.

Last month, days before the start of a federal civil trial, the city and Davis reached a financial settlement. In a ruling in that case, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman called the video of the incident "chilling" and wrote that "the video at best is clear on a central point: Davis was kicked an (sic) beaten by one or more police officers."

Davis' attorney, Stephen Bruno, said Wednesday he was surprised by the appeals court recent ruling.

"He is not fit to be a school crossing guard, " Bruno said of Evangelist. "He does not have the moral character to be police officer, and have the power and the force to have a gun and a Taser."

It remains unclear if the city will appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

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Brendan McCarthy can be reached at bmccarthy@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3301.